Municipal Emergency Management Plan

Comment on the Municipal Emergency Management Draft Plan is now closed.

Municipal Emergency Management Plan Preparation

The Victorian Emergency Management Act 1986 requires that each municipal council prepare and maintain a Municipal Emergency Management Plan (MEMP). Whitehorse City Council’s MEMP addresses how to prevent, prepare, respond to and recover from emergencies and natural disasters within the municipality. View Council's plan by clicking on the following link: Whitehorse Municipal Emergency Plan - 2017 (2.03MB). Whitehorse is generally a low risk area; however, storm, flood damage, major transport emergencies or chemical spillage may require an appropriate and prompt response. It is important for residents to know how the MEMP operates and what to do in an emergency.

The MEMP has been developed by the Municipal Emergency Management Planning Committee (MEMPC), which has representatives from a number of emergency services including police, Metropolitan Fire Brigade, Victorian State Emergency Service, Department of Human Services, medical professionals and others. The MEMP recognises the inevitability of the economic and social effects of emergencies including loss of life, destruction of property and dislocation of individuals and communities.

Under the MEMP many services can be called in to help manage the emergency, including ambulance and fire services, local councils, service authorities, Department of Human Services, other state and federal government departments and service organisations such as Red Cross. These organisations all have a specific role to play that depends on the nature of the emergency.

Municipal Emergency Management Planning

Part 4 of the Emergency Management Act 1986 requires local government to develop a MEMP that details the agreed arrangements for the preparation and prevention of, the response to, and the recovery from emergencies that could occur within a municipal district.

The broad objectives of the MEMP are to:

Implement measures to prevent or reduce the causes or effects of emergencies

Manage arrangements for the utilisation and implementation of municipal resources in response to emergencies

Manage support that may be provided to or from adjoining municipalities

Assist the affected community(s) to recover after an emergency

Complement other local, regional and state planning arrangements

Council’s MEMP is a plan for the management of municipal resources and the co-ordination of community support to assist all affected members of our community to recover from an emergency, particularly during the response and recovery phases.

This includes the management of:

The provision of emergency relief during the response phase

The provision of resources during the response and recovery phases

Municipal assistance to agencies during the response and recovery phases

The assessment of the impact of the emergency

Recovery activities within the municipality in consultation with Department of Human Services and other agencies

Further information about the Whitehorse’s MEMP is available by contacting the Council’s Municipal Emergency Resource Officer on 9262 6333.